Vision of the future

another look at her face and sighed. 'All right. I'll try.'

'Thank you,' Leia said. 'Gavrisom and I are already scheduled to go meet with the Ishori leaders over on the Predominance later this morning. Maybe together we can come up with something.' There was a beep from the table comm. 'Councilor Organa Solo?' the duty officer's voice called. Leia reached over and touched the switch. 'Yes?'

'There's a diplomatic envoy here to see you, Councilor. Are you available?' Han felt a flash of irritation. Couldn't they ever leave her alone? 'This is Solo,' he called toward the comm. 'The Councilor is otherwise engaged—'

He cut off at Leia's sudden squeeze on his arm. There was something in her face... 'Yes, I'll see him,' she said. 'Send him here.'

She switched off the comm. 'Leia—' Han began.

'No, it's all right,' she said, that odd look still on her face. 'I have a strange feeling—' She broke off as the room door slid open. Han stood up, automatically dropping his hand to his blaster.

'Councilor Organa Solo,' Carib Devist said gravely, stepping into the room. His eyes shifted to Han—'And Solo, too,' he added, stepping toward him and extending his hand. 'I'm glad to see you made it through Bastion safely.'

'We didn't,' Han said shortly, making no move to take the other's hand. 'We got caught.' Carib froze, his hand still outstretched. His eyes flicked to the still seated Lando, as if noticing him for the first time; then, slowly, he lowered his hand. 'What happened?' he asked, his face taut.

'Like I said, we got caught,' Han told him. 'They chased us around the city for a while, then were sitting there waiting when we hit the ship.' He lifted his eyebrows. 'Apparently, we rate pretty high over there. Thrawn himself came out to meet us.'

He'd thought Carib's face was as tight as it got. He'd been wrong. 'Thrawn was there?' the other repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. 'It was really him?'

'It sure wasn't a quarter-size holo,' Han bit out. 'Of course it was him. We had a nice little chat, and then he gave us the Caamas Document.' He jabbed a finger at the datacard on the table. 'There it is.'

Carib looked down at the datacard. 'And?' he asked warily.

'It's been altered,' Leia said, her voice almost gentle.

Han threw an irritated look at her. What was she doing being nice to this man? 'I don't suppose you'd know how they caught on to us or anything?' he growled, turning his glare back on Carib. The other took it without flinching. 'No, I don't,' he said. 'But given that you weren't picked up the second you stepped off your ship, I'd guess you simply got spotted. And may I also point out,' he added with a new edge to his voice, 'that tumbling to you means they've also tumbled to me, which means our families on Pakrik Minor are now in danger of Imperial reprisal. For whatever little that means to you.'

Han grimaced. 'Yeah,' he muttered. 'I'm... well, I'm sorry.'

'Forget it,' Carib said, the anger still lingering. 'We knew what we were getting into.' Deliberately, he turned back to Leia. 'Which is why we're here, in fact. We've decided—'

'Just a minute,' Lando put in. 'The duty officer said you were a diplomatic envoy. How'd you con your way through that one?'

'No con involved,' Carib said. 'The Directorate wanted someone to come offer our support to President Gavrisom and the New Republic over the Caamas situation. We volunteered. Simple as that.'

'And you got all the way up to Gavrisom on your first try?'

Carib shrugged. 'We pulled a few strings. But not too many were needed.' He smiled sadly. 'I get the impression that there aren't a lot of people around these days flocking to offer Gavrisom their unconditional support. We'll probably make for a welcome change.'

He looked back at Leia. 'The point is, we've discussed it among ourselves, and we've decided that we can't just sit back and watch this play itself out.' He straightened into a probably unconscious attention. 'So we've come to offer you our help.'

Han glanced across at Lando. A bunch of Imperial clones, volunteering to get involved in the Caamas dispute. Just exactly what they needed. 'And how do you propose to do that?' he asked.

'Any way we can,' Carib said. 'And maybe in ways you wouldn't even think of. For instance, are you aware that your mass of ships out there includes at least three Imperials?' Han felt his eyes narrow. 'What are you talking about?'

'I'm talking about three Imperial ships,' Carib repeated. 'Small ones, barely starfighter class, probably with no